The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things is an award-winning young adult novel by Carolyn Mackler published in 2003. The book tells the story of fifteen-year-old Virginia ‘Ginny’ Shreves. Ginny, a sophomore at a private high school in Manhattan, is overweight and deeply self-conscious about her appearance. She comes from an affluent family where status and looks rule above all else, which only serves to make her more aware of her perceived flaws. Among the rest of her picture-perfect family, Ginny feels very inadequate. Ginny notices how both of her parents are obsessed with their weight, determined to achieve their desired thinness. Ginny’s mom grew up being chubby but has since shed the weight and is determined to keep it off, associating it with the poverty she experienced as a child. She has formed an unhealthy obsession with dieting and fitness, and she often questions Ginny about her own weight, encouraging her to drop a few pounds. Ginny’s dad can’t seem to resist commenting on women’s bodies and is unapologetically biased towards thinner women. In an attempt to encourage his daughter to lose weight, he bribes her with the promise of a shopping spree. Ginny would love to lose some weight but it does not seem to be as easy for her. All of this contributes to making Ginny think of herself as the ugly duckling in a family full of swans. Ginny has a make-out buddy called Froggy Welsh the Fourth, but she is terrified that he or any other boy at her school will see her fat and lose all interest in her. She lives her life by what she refers to as The Fat Girl Code of Conduct, which means that she only makes out with Froggy in private, so as not to appear too confident, and she never kids herself that he might want to be her boyfriend. She starts to wear baggy clothing to school in the hope of disguising her body. As the book starts out, Ginny is unsure about her feelings toward Froggy, or if their relationship could be anything more than physical. She cannot believe that anyone would find her attractive enough to want to be her boyfriend. Ginny is also dealing with the fact that her best friend, Shannon, has recently moved across the country, her older sister, Anaïs, joined the Peace Corps and moved to Africa in order to escape her mother, whom she calls The Queen of Denial. Her older brother, Byron, whom she idolizes, has gone off to college, leaving her to deal with her parents by herself. Ginny's daily life consists of trying to avoid the popular girls, emailing Shannon, watching lots of television while binging on junk food, and attempting to deal with her mother, a teen psychologist who has no time for her own daughter. Still, life is moving along steadily enough, that is until one night when Ginny’s dad gets a phone call that changes everything. Ginny finds out that her older brother, Byron, is getting suspended from Columbia University because he raped a girl after a party at which they both got drunk, so he is moving back home. After she finds out that Byron committed date rape, the event forces Ginny to completely re-evaluate her opinion of her former idol. Her parents seem unable to face the reality of what has occurred and, instead of talking about it, go on as though nothing has happened, leaving Ginny to deal with the fallout on her own. When Ginny reaches the end of her hope, she starts rebelling against her parents. She is determined to go out and live life on her own terms, and she starts by buying a plane ticket to Seattle to visit Shannon over Thanksgiving weekend. She decides not to tell her parents, certain that they would only try to stop her from going and continue to treat her like a child. At the last minute, Ginny lets her parents know her plans, but not until it is almost time to board the plane. At this point in the novel, Ginny begins her transformation, rebelling against the restrictions placed on her by herself as well as her parents. She dyes her hair purple and pierces her eyebrow. Her newfound courage leads her to start a webzine, make new friends, and start kickboxing. Ginny also decides that in spite of the rest of her family’s willingness to turn a blind eye, she will go to Columbia to meet the girl her brother raped. If nobody else in her family is going to acknowledge Annie Mills's existence, Ginny will, even if she has to do it alone. At the end of the book, Ginny has transformed into a more confident version of herself, becoming more comfortable in her own skin.

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Carolyn Mackler

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The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things

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